Presently, shuttle grips are formed in a two step U-shape such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,270,821 and 2,154,050 with the larger step at the open end. They are provided with a bolt hole in the shank end and can be made plain or with ribs. A series of grooves are provided at the open end of the inside face of each leaf for supporting a bobbin by the rings carried on a butt end thereof during weaving.
The manufacture of these grips requires many operations including heat treatment which work against precise dimensional accuracy required in the completed shuttle assembly. Therefore, it has always been necessary to reform a large number of grips after insertion into the shuttle in order to achieve the desired bobbin alignment. Also, necessary operations such as tumbling to remove burrs and shot peening to increase fatigue life are less effective on the inside faces of the "U" shape.
Rubber pads have been utilized with the steel shuttle grips in order to dampen vibrations incurred during use. Examples of these dampened shuttle grips are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,270,821, 3,048,197, 3,351,100, and 2,154,054.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,048,197, there is disclosed a bobbin clamping device which includes clamping jaws that can be moved parallel to each other when the bobbin is being changed and also claims to permit the bobbin to be perfectly centered during operation.